Child support calculation in Ohio

Question

Under Ohio law, a person's income must change by 30% or more either up or down to trigger the CSEA to reevaluate the support order amount. If the income changes by a lesser amount there is no administrative review.

However, a judicial review is still possible¹: this involves the parties (parents) visiting a magistrate and request a recalculation of the support order amount.

What specific part of the Ohio Revised Code both authorizes this reevaluation and provides the specific process to follow to request a judicial review? What specific citation in the O.R.C. would one quote when filing a motion with the court?

¹ ^{_{This claim was made by a state employee who was not able to provide any further instructions other than "talk to a lawyer." Given that this appears to be a simple process not involving arguing the law in front of a judge, it would be much cheaper to do this without paying a retainer.}}

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 24 '15 at 00:53

The Ohio State Bar agrees with the state employee that you can go to court. The statute in question seems to be 3119.79; that statute provides that a court recalculates upon request (there are other sections for other kinds of review, but 3119.79 is the "any time, for significant changes" one). The actual order doesn't need to be changed unless the recalculated amount is at least 10% greater or less than before, or if there has been a significant change in circumstances not forseen when the order was last reviewed. Unfortunately, the statute itself doesn't give much more procedural details; the Ohio courts have a website with some of the forms, but they have no instructions for use. It seems like the forms there are acceptable everywhere (Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure, rule 84), but some courts have their own forms (e.g. Cuyahoga County), which may have more details or instructions. Check with your local clerk of court for more details.

Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer, let alone an Ohio lawyer. This is just "here are some forms and the relevant law;" it does not substitute for proper legal advice.

Child support calculation in Ohio

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